Cabinet for cylindrical objects



Jan- 21, 1969 A. D. sPoNsKE ET AL v'3,422,961

CABINET FOR CYLINDRICAL OBJECTS Filed Dec. 12, 196e la "Figi T194. :L lj

wgg/ D. Sponske Jean ,4. Mayhew Vio/e7L M. Mayhew INVENTORS.

ATT 'EYs.

United States Patent O 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cabinet for cylindrical objects such as film strip con-v tainers which cabinet is provided with a series of superimposed horizontally extending shelves each providing supports for each side of the `objects to support the same in side b-y side relationship. The distance between surfaces of adjacent supports which contact the object lare less than the ldiameter of the object and the upper surfaces of the supports are gently contoured vand convex so that a force `against an end oibject may roll the same up and over one of its supports and into engagement with the next adjacent object substantially below the top thereof. This rolls the next adjacent object rup over its support and into similar engagement with the next successive object so that the objects are successively moved into engagement for shifting the objects yalong the shelf. In one form, the supports for a shelf are integrated into an elongated, undulating member and in the other form, the supports comprise an eloigated series of spaced `apart projecting rods.

This invention relates to a shelf for supporting a row of cylindrical articles in a manner to permit shifting of the articles in unison along the hself to different locations without changing the relatvie positions of the articles.

Many schools and Iother institutions utilize film strip projectors as an instructional aid. Each film strip pertaining to a particular topic is stored in la small cylindrical cannister of standard size. For ready reference after a lnumber of film strips are acquired, it has been a common `practice to store the cannisters in drawers having a wire vmesh arrangement for receiving the cannisters yand maintaining each cannister in a particular location in the grid lwhere it may be readily found when needed. However, if storage of the stripsis to be based on the subject matter contained therein, it is necessary to move a number of cannisters to new locations in the grid each time a strip dealing with a new sub-topic is received. For this lreason a Dewey decimal system indexing procedure is not entirely satisfactory because of the constant need to reorient the cannisters as the film library increases in size.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide a means of storing cylindrical `articles in rows which may be added to iby insertion of an additional article in an intermediate position in a particular row without shifting each individual article of the row to a new location to accommodate the added article.

As a corollary to the foregoing object, it is an important aim of the instant invention to provide such a storage means wherein a row of articles may be shifted in unison without changiig the relative positions of the articles.

Additionally, it is an important object to provide shelf structure which presents a series of saddles for accommodating the row of articles in a horizontal orientation with convex surfaces being disposed between the saddles to permit smooth rolling of the articles along the shelf structure from saddle to saddle when it is desired to shift the articles in unison to new locations on the structure in order to accommodate the addition of another article.

In the drawing:

3,422,961 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet which contains the article-receiving shelves lof the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is Ia vertical sectional view through the cabinet 0f FIG. 1 showing one embodiment of the instant invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a detail showing a second embodiment of the instant invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a cabinet 10 is shown having a body section 12 and a pair of door sections 14 and 16. Body section 12 is in the form of a shallow shell having a rear panel 18 (FIG. 2). Similarly, door section 14 is of shell-like construction and has a front panel 22. Door section 16 is constructed in identical fashion and has a front panel 26. A pair of pulls 30 and 32 |are mounted on the outer surfaces of panels 22 and 26, and any type of conventional catch (not shown) may be utilized to normally maintain doors 14 Iand 16 in the closed positions illustrated.

A number of vertically spaced shelves 34 are mounted in body section 12, each shelf 34 supporting a row of cylindrical articles illustrated herein as film strip cannisters 36. In this respect, it is to be understood that cabinet 10 may be used for storing a plurality of any sort of cylindrical objects, the utility thereof not being limited to film strip cannisters which are considered t0 be illustrative only. The various shelves 34 are shown formed as a unitary structure and may be molded from a synthetic resin material. Manifestly the material of construction is not critical and it will be readily vappreciated -by those skilled in the art that sheet metal, wood or any other such suitable material may be utilized for construc` tion of shelves 34. Door section 14 contains vertically spaced shelves 34a identical to shelves 34 except that they are approximately one-half the length of shelves 34 due t0 the double door arrangement. Each shelf 34a supports a row of cannisters 36, shelves 34 and 34a extending inwardly and upwardly toward one another when door 14 is closed as illustrated in FIG. 2 providing a slight downward tilt toward respective panels 18 and 22 for gravitationally stabilizing the cannisters 36 on shelves 34 and 34a. The shelf unit contained in door 16 is identical to the `shelf unit of door 14 and thence is not illustrated.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be seen that each shelf 34 is of elongated, longitudinally undulating configuration, presenting y'a row of saddles 38 which receive and support cannisters 36. Each saddle 3-8 defines an elongated, transversely concave trough 40 that extends forwardly and upwardly away from rear panel 18. Each cannister 36 on shelf 34 rests in one of the troughs 40 with a portion of its cylindrical periphery in complemental Contact with the face of the trough 40.

The undulating shelf 34 also denes a row of humpshaped elements l42 each having an elongated, transversely convex uppermost surface 44 extending forwardly away from rear panel 18. Each surface 44 has a gently sloping contour and effectively bridges the pair of saddles 38 that the surface is located between. It should be noted that each surface 44 has a pair of opposed longitudinal boundaries 46, each boundary 46 being in line contact with an individual cannister 36 when the latter is resting in the adjacent trough 40. The distance between the proximal boundaries 46 of an adjacent pair of surfaces 44 across the intervening saddle 38 is less than the diameter of cannister 36; thus, each saddle 38 embraces less than onehalf of the cylindrical of `an individual cannister.

A second embodiment of the instant invention is illustrated in FIG. 5 and comprises a shelf consisting of a row of elongated, cylindrical rod elements 48 in the form of Wooden dowels or the like. Elements 48 are arranged with their longitudinal axes in parallelism and are disposed at a slight inclination on rear panel 18 providing a downward tilt toward the latter in the same manner as the shelf of the rst embodiment discussed above. Each adjacent pair of elements 48 presents -a saddle 50 therebetween receiving an individual cannister 36 and supporting the same. It may be seen that the uppermost surfaces 52 `of elements 48 are of elongated, transversely convex configuration iand of approximately the same contour as surfaces 44 of the first embodiment. Again, each surface 52 has a pair of opposed, longitudinal boundaries 54, the proximal boundaries 54 ofV an adjacent pair of surfaces 52 being in line contact with the cannister 36 therebetween. It is clear that the spacing between such proximal boundaries 54 is such that each saddle 50 embraces less than one-half of the cylindrical periphery of the cannister.

The various 'cannisters 36 are arranged on the shelves in cabinet so that their lids face outwardly when doors 14 and 16 are open. The slight incline of the shelves makes the lids easier to view, it being common practice to place identifying indicia (such as the title of the lm strip) on the lids. When cabinet 10 is initially stocked with cannisters, each shelf is not completely lled to allow room for expansion. This facilitates the use of a Dewey decimal system to mark and store the cannisters, each shelf thus corresponding to a particular broad decimal designation.

It will be appreciated that, if a particular row of ten cannisters 36 were designated 10.0 through 10.9 respectively, it would be necessary to shift eight of the cannisters along the shelf one storage location in order to add a cannister designated 10.11. This is readily effected in the instant invention by pushing laterally (longitudinally of the shelf) on the cannister designated 10.2 to roll the cannister over the next surface 44 and into the next saddle 3-8. This is illustrated in FIG. 3 where it may be seen that such action also pushes the other cannisters (which would be labeled 10.3 through 10.9 in the instant example) along the shelf to the next respective saddles 38 where they come to rest. The fact that each saddle 38 embraces less than one-half of the cannister, together with the gentle contour of each convex surface 44, permits smooth rolling of the cannisters along the shelf in unison from saddle to saddle.

The second embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5 operates in the same manner as above to obviate the need to shift each cannister individually when a new cannister is added to a shelf at an intermediate location thereon with respect to the previous row of cannisters. The `cannisters roll in unison with each cannister rolling smoothly over a respective surface 52 and coming to rest in the next saddle 50. Both embodiments of the invention, therefore, now render the use of a Dewey decimal indexing system practical in the storage of film strip cannisters and similar articles.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A support for a plurality of similar articles comprising:

a series of superimposed shelves provided with a horizontally extending row of article-receiving saddles,

said shelves having elements thereacross between the saddles provided with elongated uppermost surfaces,

each of said elements being disposed between a respective adjacent pair of said saddles,

each of said surfaces having opposed, longitudinally extending boundaries,

the distance between the proximal boundaries of adjacent surfaces across the intervening saddle being less than the diameter of any of said articles, whereby each saddle embraces less than one-half of the periphery of an individual article,

each surface being transversely `convex and having a gently sloping contour for smooth rolling of the articles up and over said surfaces and into engagement with the adjacent article substantially below the top of the latter to shift said articles in unison along the shelf from saddle to saddle.

2. The invention -of claim 1,

the convexity of each of said surfaces V.bridging the adjacent pair of saddles.

3. The invention of claim 1,

said saddles having elongated, transversely concave troughs upon which the articles rest.

4. The invention of claim 1,

said shelf being elongated yand having a longitudinally undulating configuration, presenting said saddles in spaced relationship longitudinally of the shelf and said elements between respective adjacent pairs of said saddles.

5. The invention of claim 4,

each of said surfaces having a gently sloping contour lbetween the adjacent pair of saddles, and having opposed, longitudinally extending boundaries,

the distance between the proximal boundaries of adja- `cent surfaces across the intervening saddle being less than the diameter of any of said articles, whereby each saddle Iembraces less than one-half of the periphery of an individual article.

6. The invention of claim 1,

said shelves comprising elongated circular rods, said rods being in spaced parallelism, providing said elements and said saddles therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 943,521 2/1910 Payne 211-135 XR 1,821,621 9/1931 Durand 211-135 XR 1,927,398 9/1933 Gasser 312-138 2,735,741 2/1956 Laben 211-153 XR 3,064,823 11/1962 snoek 211-13 XR 3,225,937 12/1965 Ammer et a1. 211-.153 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 496,913 10/1953 Canada. 927,240 5/ 1963 Great Britain.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 312-199 

